“Before there were humans or dwarves, before there
were even worlds or the stars that light the night sky,
there was but one thing in the universe—the Mists.”

– The Guild Wars Manuscripts

The Mists are a representation of the fabric of space and time that connects all the multiverses together. The Mists itself is a vast expanse of, ironically, mist. It holds islands within which have their own history, reflections of the worlds they represent. You can compare these islands to mirrors, they mirror the worlds around them, forming their own image from those realities. The Mists touches all things and are what binds worlds together; their past, present and future are held within the Mists. It is the building blocks of reality, holding within the balance of life by being the source of all good and evil, all matter and knowledge, and holding immense amount of power.

Concept art for Fractals of the Mists. A good visual example of what the Mists look like.

The Mists is the oldest thing in existence, it predates Tyria itself. In fact the Guild Wars Manuscripts states that all forms of life can trace their beginnings to the Mists, meaning that the Gods, the Elder Dragons, and anything else you can think of could have been created by the Mists. Although it is likely that Tyria itself is created from the Mists as the Mists is known for creating worlds, the question of how this is done is still a mystery. What we do know is that the protomater that is comprised of the Mists constantly strives towards creation, often creating demons of failed creation. However when the Mists finds a suitable template, it can create something from that form, and what is spawned will hold similar traits to what was copied. There is definitely a pattern in the Mists; it creates in the image of something else. The extent of the creative capabilities of the Mists are still a mystery, but it begs to question where the Mists got their suitable templates to create the worlds and creatures to begin with if it is the oldest thing in existance.

The Mists is home to the the human Gods and other various beings of power. It holds the domain of each human God, their own realm which they represent. It is also home to the various afterlives. Through the Mists you can travel across the Universe, meaning it is in fact different from the Universe. It is essentially in the world of Guild Wars the answers to all the questions we struggle to find an answer for today concerning existence, meaning of life and death, connecting all those things in one nice package.

Map of the Mists in GW2, where WvW (Mists War) is held.

Currently the Mists hosts the Battle of the Mists, or the Mists War, where the races fight for glory in an eternal tournament. In the center of the Mists lies the Rift. The Rift is the center of the balance in the Universe, it is a tear in the fabric of the cosmos where time doesn’t flow. It is the center of everything and passage to everywhere; it connects to all things. Deep within the Rift is the Hall of Heroes, the pinnacle of the afterlife. Once inaccessible to the mortal world, this all changed with the follies of Lord Odran, and the mortals fought for honor on their quest to reach the Hall of Heroes.

The Mists are still shrouded in deep mysteries. They have many answers, but hold more questions. What ultimate link they have to Tyria, the Gods and the Elder Dragons may never be answered.

Guild Wars 1 art for the Hall of Heroes, deep within the Mists in the Rift.

3 Responses to Spotlight: The Mists

“The Mists is home to the the human Gods and other various beings of power. It holds the domain of each human God, their own realm which they represent.”
Which Gods do you mean? Kormir is human an was born on Tyria as far as I know. (Side note: humans could come from the Mists) Grenth is only half the “God’s race” the other half is (probably) human. Furthermore we know that there was some kind of Spider God before Abaddon and we know Grenth’s predecessor Dhuum. So what do you mean by “The Mists is home to the the human Gods”?

All gods have a home in the Mists, Balthazar has the Fissure of Woe, Grenth the Underworld (which once belonged to Dhuum) and Abaddon the Realm of Torment (in which later was his prison and after that the domain of the god Kormir, once human but ascended to godhood after the defeat of Abbadon).

Dwayna and Melandru also have their domain in the Mists, we have yet to encounter them however.

The humans come from the Mists in the sense that they were once on another world, but the Gods (using the Mists as a passage) brought humans to Tyria.